West Virginia Medicaid Preparing to Integrate Medical & Behavioral Care for SMI; Provider Organizations Wary of Plan

OPEN MINDS Weekly News Wire Strategic Health Care News The West Virginia Medicaid program has announced plans to seek health maintenance organizations (HMOs) to provide integrated medical and behavioral health services for people with serious mental illness who receive Supplemental Security Income (SSI). The state has applied for a waiver from the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), and planning for the transition was slated to start in July 2010. In addition to transferring about 55,000 SSI recipients with serious mental illness to HMOs, the West Virginia Department of Health and Human Resources (DHHR) has included people . . .